Saturday, February 02, 2008

I just wanted to thank everyone on Myspace, Blogger and Yahoo Answers for their support when my beloved 18 month old cat Willie was very ill with a mystery aliment these past two weeks. I was actually worried that he'd 'drop the body' the same day as Meher Baba did, January 31st. I guess with Willie that means "drop the pelt!"But in the best 48 hours he's almost back to his normal grumpy but charming Himalayan self.

MY LOVE AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS!

Willie has made a miraculous and almost overnight recovery after round the clock care and a wonderful seemingly angelic Vet who made a house call this past Wednesday.

As many of you are also loving cat owners with limited funds (I spent about $220./150quid but easily could have pushed $700.00/400 quid with tests, X rays and meds)

I thought I'd include some of the lessons and experiences that helped me help Willie.the internet has too many 'pay to find the answer' websites for desperate pet owners so I thought I would add this for free. I hope it helps someone, this advice is not a replacement in anyway for a professional vet.

Symptoms: Willie showed absolutely NO vomiting, diarrhea or intestinal distress. He could barely walk but was able to get to the litter box even if he had to be helped.It looks like he suffered blunt force trauma as both vets who checked him out found a temperature and he had a lot of soreness but no other symptoms apart from his terrifying lethargy and virtual unresponsiveness much of the time.

Here is what I did right and what I did wrong that can hopefully help you out if you ever have a cat who is dealing with similar circumstances and you do not have hundreds of dollars to spend.

1. We watched him around the clock and fed him by hand and kept him hydrated with a plastic dropper (Do not use glass EVER!) when he was too weak. He drank warm milk, water and ate wet food by hand and crunched on Science Diet , one nugget at a time sometimes while he was lying down. His appetite was thankfully very good plus he had some extra body weight on him.We fell behind on sleep something fierce but it was worth it. I should have brought his litter box to him much earlier so recommend as soon as you realize you cat is in distress and needs TLC that you confine him to one clean room with everything he needs close by.

2. He had a fever and I kept him warm which was a mistake. If they are feverish they need to run cool so a clean soft blanket that they can stretch out and move their body freely as they start to get their mobility back again. Tucking him in with his own blanket is not needed nor is a cat bed that might confine his sore kitty limbs. I also let him stay in one place all day when he needed to moved at least every few hours (like rolling over a bed ridden person) to keep his limbs from getting too stiff. Picking up and carrying a sick cat is a delicate art too, do NOT scoop them up like a baby instead scruff them and hold their chest allowing their lower limbs and backside to be free. Google to see how it's done properly.

3. Because he had a fever I should have given him antibiotics much sooner. As soon as he started a course he started to get better simultaneously. The first vet I saw was asking huge prices for meds and blood tests. About a week and half later when Willie was actually getting worse and even had an infected eye lid because of being unable to groom, I found a fully accredited vet who made a house call , checked him out, mixed amoxicillion right there and gave me eye drops for 45.00/25 quid (incredible) that's about a quarter of the emergency vet's fee before medications. Ask around.

4. Regarding pain medication and cats, especially young ones he did NOT get any and I'm glad as it's not a good idea because they have such a small body weight. There is a massive misinformation on the net and the vet told me only HALF A BABY ASPIRIN every four to five days nothing more but that was ideally for older cats or serious pain issues. You don't want your get getting injured because of being unable to feel how much pain he may or may not be in as he recuperates.

5. Positive thinking and classical music. I started playing Bach's Brandenburg concertos on continuous loops and it sped up my cat's healing and my own optimism. Classical music with it's precise clean sound seems to be universally appreciated by cat's. This little guy (actually about 17 pounds of him!) healed himself by purring a lot which cats do when they are not only happy but in extreme distress and by coming back home when he was injured. I still have no idea when but because he did return and not go hide outside somewhere we were able to help him Which brings me to the fact that he is now officially indoors as it's simply a safer alternative to having my kitty friend injured by a bike or car.

Alright everyone that's it thanks again. To anyone out there with an ailing pet my prayers and best wishes go out to you.

2 Comments:

My Flower :1. Milk is often a MISTAKE :Contains too much protein , as to be almost a poison for a cat . A good broth is better.2. Don´t EVER over heat yer little friend . Too many sweaters can be lethal per se . ( Dey know how to regulate body temperature much better dan we do ). As for the rest , yer a good vet , Blomma !P.S. mom´s cat still dying . Going slowly , slowly . It´s all so fucken bad .D.SS. Posted a vid abt ´Nazism´. Seems Youtube won´t let it thru ./ Pete .

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